ORLANDO, Fla. — A+ Teacher Christina Haywood says she loves seeing students get into what they are learning. It is those moments of growth where she sees their success that means everything to her.
Haywood stays busy planting the seeds of knowledge at Orlando’s Carver Middle School. She says when students come to her excited about earning an A, or they want to show her their report card, it makes her day.
“Those moments of seeing them being successful is really just a rewarding experience for me,” Haywood says.
When she is helping students, she is in her element.
In the educational field for 10 years, she is currently an instructional coach.
Haywood explains, “I try to make sure that the students have a balanced experience in life. That’s one of our purposes here at Carver. We want to make sure that the students get the exposure to any and everything that we can that’s positive.”
She points to the school’s Sustainability Club where they are growing food to share with the community.
“It’s the experiences that help to develop skills, help to develop cooperation, teamwork. All these things are needed inside the classroom as well as outside the classroom to help develop amazing scholars,” she says.
But her work as an instructional coach isn’t limited to just students in settings outside. Inside the classroom, she collaborates with teachers to make sure students are successful.
Haywood adds, “We both have the same goal. We both want to make sure that the students are doing their best. We’re competing with social media and computers and things, and we want the students to be able to retain and enjoy learning, especially a subject like science, where sometimes many students don’t enjoy it. So, we just try to make it as fun as possible.”
Haywood is on a mission sowing the seeds of academic success.
She says, “I really hope that as they grow and they go on to high school and to whatever they want to do that they will always remember these small moments that we did here in middle school.”